I hurry across the street to enter my car in order to avoid standing in a spot contaminated with smoke for a second longer. The state has banned smoking in a public places, but there is still another type of smoker who obnoxiously pollutes the air. A simple puff or tow outside a building is not enough for them; instead, they chose to chain-smoke. The term “street smokers’ has been coined for people like this.

Seeing as how I’m highly sensitive to smoke, I have to hold my breath as I walk down the street in front of smokers. I try to be polite by not making a big deal, but smoke easily makes me dizzy ignore me and choose to light another cigarette.

Whenever I go to China, I always feel uncomfortable because there usually are no smoking and nonsmoking sections. Instead of enjoying my vacation, I spend it doubling over in a coughing fit, with people staring at me as if I’m crazy. With smokers in any given area, I always feel uncomfortable and usually don’t want to return. This may seem ridiculous, but I have a reluctance to go to several places because I encounter several smokers who have just shrugged off what looked like a little girl going into spasms.

Frankly, smoking drives me insane. I sometimes feel like yelling at smokers and blame them for global warming, but it would be unfair and untrue. However, it is true that smoking is harmful and deteriorates not only the smoker’s health and well-being, but also that of others around them. I’d hate to sound cruel, but dying of secondhand smoke, which is a likely possibility for me considering my sensitivity, sounds really pathetic. Of all the ways to die, secondhand smoke sounds the least ideal.

What some people may not know is that smoking can cause more than just lung cancer. There are several harmful carcinogens and toxic chemicals in a single cigarette that will forever line your lungs after you inhale a cigarette just once. Continuous smoking will merely thicken the lining, which is a threat to their health.

There was also hearsay recently about California banning smoking on the streets. Although I am unsure of this, I know for sure that Belmont is now beginning to ban smoking from nearly all locations, including streets. Belmont is being commended by several organizations for its leadership in creating s smoke-free environment. Although I know people who would be outraged by this law, I also know several people who’d want to move to Belmont just because of that law.

Despite all the laws and regulations on smoking, there still are people who smoke in non-smoking areas- even underage smokers. I see people wandering the streets with a cigarette hanging limply from their mouth who are probably my age. Even though it is illegal, that’s not my point. My point is that after they enjoy their cigarette, they will toss it carelessly on whoever’s lawn is closest, not the closest ash tray. Each cirgarette but probably accounts for a lot of the littering issues that threaten our open campus lunch.

Smoking is a menace and I certainly do not believe that it’s a victimless crime. Smoking has probably taken more lives than serial killers, and in more gruesome ways as well. If you don’t believe me, just click into Google and search “Smoking can cause,” then read and weep.